Networking Career

[Crypticflare]

Though I bet many of the vL users and a lot of the normal forum browsers can answer this, My question is directed towards Thing or Joykillah, This fall I start my courses at my local community college for Network Administration, I've talked to a few employers and all of them tell me the same thing.

1.) When looking for a new employee experience can out-weigh the number of certs you recieve

2.) Internship is a good way to start to get your name around, and to have a good presentation in your resume.

I was wondering what type of things should I be looking into now, and toying with to help me get prepared for these classes?

For most employers I understand that as a Network Admin, they like to see the different scenarios of trouble you've been through and what not, and I'd like to at least get a start on focusing on what I need to do.

Any suggestions, all input is very much welcomed!

[Grok]

Any suggestions, all input is very much welcomed!

But only from Thing or Joykillah?

[Crypticflare]

I apologize for the miswording, I welcome all input, but since Thing and Joykillah were the only ones I knew of that established a networking career, that is why I directed the question at them. I really am open for suggestions if there is any type of reading or information I could check to give me at least an advantage in the community college. (I currently reside in a school that has about 250 kids in it k-12) The computer lab is a joke, and I'd just like a direction to take so I'm not 40 days behind, on the first hour of class.

[Raven]

Just as my 2 cents, I doubt you'll be able to get too far without a B.S. At your CC, I think you should work more toward transferring into a 4-year university where you can earn a B.S. in Networking or a related field. The university itself will be a PHENOMENAL resource in acquiring you internships and such to help get you on your feet when you've graduated. I'm still a college freshman, but just about anyone you ask, they'll likely say you should get your B.S. first.

[Orillion]

I totally agree with Raven. The degree I'm doing at my local university actually involves quite a lengthy job placement during the 3rd year. The goal of it is to become bonded to the employer whereby they pay for any further tuition if I work for them for a few years.

[iago]

tmp does network administration.  He got his Cisco Certification in highschool, but companies don't like hiring kids to admin networks, so he started his own company (www.slachtech.com) to demonstrate that he knows what he's doing.  In my opinion, self-employment is a good way to get valuable experience.

On the other hand, my University does a lot of job placements for Comptuer Science.  Even though we have no networking classes there, we still got to apply for a network security job, which I hope I get

[Crypticflare]

Yea, I will be transfering to Iowa State University, or U of I, after the two year course runs through, right now since classes start while I'm still enrolled as a senior my highschool will still pay for the classes as long as I maintain a B - grade in the course. Not to mention I'll have an easier time with student financial aid here if I go to a CC first.

[iago]

Yea, I will be transfering to Iowa State University, or U of I, after the two year course runs through, right now since classes start while I'm still enrolled as a senior my highschool will still pay for the classes as long as I maintain a B - grade in the course. Not to mention I'll have an easier time with student financial aid here if I go to a CC first.

eww, financial aid?  I just work 10-20 hours/week during school, and 30 hours/week during summer, and I make enough to pay for myself

[dxoigmn]

Yea, I will be transfering to Iowa State University, or U of I, after the two year course runs through, right now since classes start while I'm still enrolled as a senior my highschool will still pay for the classes as long as I maintain a B - grade in the course. Not to mention I'll have an easier time with student financial aid here if I go to a CC first.

eww, financial aid?  I just work 10-20 hours/week during school, and 30 hours/week during summer, and I make enough to pay for myself

How much per year? or term?

[iago]

cdn$3500/year + $350 parking + gas + books

[dxoigmn]

cdn$3500/year + $350 parking + gas + books

See that's relatively cheap compared to my ~$45,000 education :\.  I have a scholarship, but I still end up paying a little more than you do.

[mynameistmp]

CrypticFlare, a lot of companies are looking for experience, as you know. I understand that that can be a bit of a frustrating process.

My solution, and thus, suggestion would be to get a regular job, to generate some income, then apply the money made in the correct areas. Perhaps something along these lines: try phoning your municipal hall, and acquiring a business license. Shouldn't cost you more than ~100USD/year. Go find a cheap printing press to print you off 500 or so business cards. Usually you can find an ISP to offer you a decent home or office SERVER plan, for about ~100USD/month. These plans often allow for hosting DNS and Email servers. Otherwise consider getting a colocation at a cheap price. That's easy enough these days, just shop around online for the Webhosting plan that suits your needs.

You wouldn't need a large amount of bandwidth/hardware resources when you're starting off... upgrade the connection and the hardware proportionally with your users/business.

Don't expect to get big quickly. Perhaps offer free PC repair around your neighbourhood/family/friends, handing out your business cards along the way. Include on the business cards that you offer DNS/Email/Webhosting/PC repair for free, or very cheap. By starting out free, you would expand your amount of work, hopefully.

The idea here is to do a lot of work, not make a lot of money. By the time you're actually ready to impose charges and make money, you could declare yourself a semi-accomplished network admin/PC repair technician, with a lot of very happy references. Free DNS/Webhosting/PC Repair = happily referrable customers. Unscheduled work generally will leave you with enough spare time to pursue an education/second job.

It can equate to a fair workload, but you could end up with experience, a small company, a bunch of references, and perhaps some extra money on the side (shoot for enough to pay for your education... ). Those benefits paralleled with the education you intend on completing might help you out. The basic idea is to give yourself the experience that's difficult to find.

[iago]

In my opinion, self-employment is a good way to get valuable experience.

CrypticFlare, a lot of companies are looking for experience, as you know. I understand that that can be a bit of a frustrating process.

My solution, and thus, suggestion would be to get a regular job, to generate some income, then apply the money made in the correct areas. Perhaps something along these lines: try phoning your municipal hall, and acquiring a business license. Shouldn't cost you more than ~100USD/year. Go find a cheap printing press to print you off 500 or so business cards. Usually you can find an ISP to offer you a decent home or office SERVER plan, for about ~100USD/month. These plans often allow for hosting DNS and Email servers. Otherwise consider getting a colocation at a cheap price. That's easy enough these days, just shop around online for the Webhosting plan that suits your needs.

You wouldn't need a large amount of bandwidth/hardware resources when you're starting off... upgrade the connection and the hardware proportionally with your users/business.

Don't expect to get big quickly. Perhaps offer free PC repair around your neighbourhood/family/friends, handing out your business cards along the way. Include on the business cards that you offer DNS/Email/Webhosting/PC repair for free, or very cheap. By starting out free, you would expand your amount of work, hopefully.

The idea here is to do a lot of work, not make a lot of money. By the time you're actually ready to impose charges and make money, you could declare yourself a semi-accomplished network admin/PC repair technician, with a lot of very happy references. Free DNS/Webhosting/PC Repair = happily referrable customers. Unscheduled work generally will leave you with enough spare time to pursue an education/second job.

It can equate to a fair workload, but you could end up with experience, a small company, a bunch of references, and perhaps some extra money on the side (shoot for enough to pay for your education... ). Those benefits paralleled with the education you intend on completing might help you out. The basic idea is to give yourself the experience that's difficult to find.

That's what I said!

[Thing]

There are many paths you can choose grasshopper.  Here are some real life examples of people that I know very well:

1.   Nortel Engineer - This guy received his BS in Computer Science at Southern Methodist University.  He could barely spell computer but when the HR lady called me to check on his work history, I gave her a glowing report.  He's been working there for 5 years and is bringing home around 70K/year.  He still can't spell computer but gets to travel all over the world doing cool stuff.
2.   Perot Systems UNIX Admin – He worked a crap job for Brinks Home Security taking care of their crappy AS400.  He toughed it out and landed a job at Perot Systems.  After a couple of years he was able to cross train himself to UNIX Administration.  He has no degree and no certifications but he's banking 120K/year and living in a politics driven environment that he easily ignores.
3.   HP Support Supervisor – A long ago expired MSCE certification got him a job doing support for Exchange Server.  Poor bastard hated his job but made decent cash.  He sucked it up and is has an equally crappy job at HP in San Antonio but makes 80K/year and can buy lots of cool toys.
4.   Thing – I followed a path similar to what tmp suggested.  I volunteered at a municipality for a while.  I worked part time at the college I was attending.  I worked on anybody's computer for very little money.  I learned the way to fix problems and make people not feel stupid.  Now, my customers have my cell phone number and they all know that it will cost them $150.00 for me to answer it.

I hope this helps.

[Crypticflare]

Thanks a bunch everyone I appreciate the input, the suggestion of tmp and iago was the idea I had before I wrote this question, Luckily for me the community college is about 25 miles away thus letting me maintain my job at the sports shop while I go to school. Master Thing, 1000 thank yous to you.

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